Living Underwater
by Snows Of Yester-Year
Summary: Sentry duty is terribly boring. Lucky for Aang that Katara came along. For the Kataang Raid.


A/N: KATAANG RAID HECK YES

This is a future!fic. I'd say Katara and Aang are like... 17 and 15, respectively.

Totally unbeta'd and therefore probably AWFUL since I have to leave for work in um.. ...er, five minutes ago.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender

* * *

Sentry duty was a lot of things that Aang hated. It was quiet, it was boring, and it was lonely. He was trying his best not to fall asleep or wander off, but the lack of mental stimulation was really taking a toll on him. If only he had someone to talk to, something to occupy him...unfortunately, everyone was asleep - even Appa and Momo. He couldn't even work on honing any of his bending; practicing all but the most basic bending moves would probably wake his friends -

"Aang?"

...up.

_Oh happy salvation._

He peeled his tired eyes away from the flickering heart of the fire to focus his attention on the approaching Waterbender. He almost had to physically restrain himself from jumping up and throwing his arms around her. "Katara!"

She smiled, settling down next to him at the base of the tree. "I figured you could use some company."

"You didn't have to come out here just to keep me company," he insisted, his gaze flitting back over to the fire. "You're probably really tired."

"Not really," she responded. She stretched briefly before falling against his shoulder, nearly giving him a heart attack. Her searching hand latched onto his, fingers entwining. "I thought you'd be bored out here all by yourself."

"It's not _that_ bad," he lied, willing his heart rate to slow down and stop going crazy at her simple touch.

She shifted and turned over to face him, breaking the link of their hands to toss her arm around his waist. "What have you been doing?"

He gingerly wrapped his arm around her shoulder to pull her a bit closer and rested his chin against her soft hair. "Just thinking."

"What about?"

Her questions made him grin stupidly for some reason. "Just stuff."

"Like what?"

If she knew for real she'd kill him. He drew on an old excuse from back when they were traveling through the Fire Nation as an answer. "Ah...living underwater."

Katara tilted her head back to look at him, an inquisitive expression on her face. "Why living underwater?"

Aang glanced away quickly. "It's, um...just something I enjoy...imagining...y'know?"

She blinked before settling against him. "Yeah...it does sound fun to imagine."

He was so, so glad she wasn't looking at his face. She'd see the ridiculous blush on his cheeks and that just wasn't acceptable. "Yeah. I bet it would be even more fun to do, though."

"I'll bet."

A brief lull in the conversation set in, which Aang broke with a quiet inquiry after a few minutes of the silence. "What about you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"What're you doing up? It's late. I thought you'd be asleep by now."

"I was just thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

She was quiet for a moment before she responded. "Living in the clouds."

He blinked. "So...flying?"

"No, I mean like...actually living there. Like if there were houses and things in the clouds."

"I don't think those houses would last very long."

She laughed. "No, probably not. Besides, flying around on Appa was pretty close to just living in the clouds."

"That's true."

Silence fell again, but this time it was more tense. Aang had a feeling that she wanted to say something but was holding back. He nudged Katara gently and asked, "So now what are you thinking about?"

"...Er..."

He blinked and stared down at her. "What?"

She pushed herself away from him slightly so that she could lock her eyes with him. There was a surprisingly serious expression on her face, and Aang wondered in a panic if he had done something wrong. She lifted her free hand to trace her fingertips across his cheekbone, the intensity in her gaze almost enough to make him squirm.

"Um...Katara? Is...something the matter?"

She abruptly cradled his face with both of her hands, pulled him close, and kissed him. The intensity of the action caught Aang off-guard, making it impossible for him to catch himself as the momentum Katara had created caused him to topple over on top of her. Without breaking the kiss, she flipped them over so that _she_ was on top, finally pulling back to whisper some breathless question about living underwater. Aang didn't really hear it clearly. He was too focused on the task of recapturing her lips.

* * *

Sokka knew the second he woke up that he had slept in to an unforgivable hour. The sun had already risen, and the light was turning from the coral shade of dawn to the clearer light of morning.

He tossed off his blankets with a furious curse, stumbling to his feet and crashing into one of the tents support poles in his haste. The entire structure swayed dangerously under the impact, and he barely managed to steady himself and the tent before he staggered out into the early morning sunlight.

He cast a narrow-eyed glare around the campsite. Aang was supposed to have woken him up to take over sentry over an hour ago. Had he been captured. He warily scanned the site; the dying embers of the fire, Toph's shadowy rock tent, his sister and the Avatar laying on the ground near the -

... wait, what.

His concern for his friends safety was quickly swept away by his brotherly instincts. He darted over to where the two were laying, a scowl marring his features. They were both clothed - good, because he didn't think it would go over too well if he had to introduce his boomerang to anything on the Avatar's body - but this meant that Aang had fallen asleep while he was on duty.

And...what had Katara been doing out of the tent in the middle of the night, anyway?

Making a mental note to give them both a sizable piece of his mind later, he stalked back to the fire pit to relight the blaze and start breakfast.


End file.
